We have already spoken of the fact that God is everywhere, and that he is all-powerful. We now consider his omniscience – his knowing of everything. Interestingly, God’s omniscience is closely tied to his omnipotence and his omnipresence.

The psalmist writes, “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures (Psalm 104:24). And, in Psalm 139 he speaks of the fact that God knows him, because God made him (vv. 2, 15, & 16). God knows all things, because he has made all things. His creation, by his great power, has given him both authority and knowledge over all things.

Jeremiah says, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord” o(Jeremiah 23:24). Again, in Psalm 139 we read, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you” (Psalm 139:7-12). God’s omniscience is tied to his omnipresence, because God is everywhere and sees all things. Nothing is hidden from him.

Everything we do is known by God. Everything about us is known by God. Everything we encounter is known by God. Is this a great comfort to us, or is it a great frustration? That depends upon our relationship with God. If we are believers, his knowledge of our very being, and of everything we face in any given day should comfort us. How could he possibly work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28), if there were some things about us he did not know? For those who have not come in repentance and admitted the Lordship of God over all their lives, the thought of an all-knowing God is a great frustration, for there is nothing they can do that is not seen by their Judge.

God’s knowledge is eternal, just as he is. In other words, God has known all things forever. He never had to learn anything about himself, his creation, or man. There is a school of thought today, known as Open Theism, which teaches that God does not know all things. In an effort to save God from any possibility of being the Creator of evil, the open theists would say that man’s free will is strong enough that he makes his own decisions, and God waits upon those decisions before proceeding with his plan. While seeking to protect God, open theism actually weakens God and makes man’s thoughts, decisions, and deeds greater than those of God.

The fact that God has known all things for all times directs our thoughts to the foreknowledge of God. This is also an area where the open theists and others have problems with the statements of Scripture. If, according to some, God knows all things beforehand, then he determines all things beforehand, and man’s responsibility is removed. While this might seem the case to our finite minds, we must remember that God is not limited by time and space, as we are. For God there is no past or future. He lives in what can be called the eternal present. And, within that eternal present, he knows all things.

God’s foreknowledge is proactive. It is tied to his foreordination, or predestination. God knows things beforehand, because he, in his eternal plan, has determined those things to be. To use a phrase of many who deny God’s true foreknowledge, God does not “look down the corridors of time and see what is going to happen.” He does not choose those to be the elect who are going to believe in him. Rather, he chooses those whom he desires to choose, and they, in turn believe in him at some time in their lives.

But, God’s foreknowledge is also personal. In the order of salvation presented by Paul in Romans 8, we see that, “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). God’s foreknowledge is more than a mere acknowledgment of who someone is. To know in this sense is to be lovingly aware of someone. To know us, God loves us. And, it is that love, before we turn to him, that causes him to choose us as his own.

The most amazing thing, though, about God’s knowledge and foreknowledge of us is that it is compassionate. As we said earlier, God knows everything about us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And, in spite of the fact that he knows we are fallen, rebellious creatures, he still loves us. In fact, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch theologian and prime minister once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” R.C. Sproul put it this way:

If there is one molecule in this universe running around loose outside the scope or the sphere of God’s divine control and authority and power, then that single maverick molecule may be the grain of sand that changes the entire course of human history, that blocks God from keeping the promises he has made to his people.

As we know, God created everything that exists. Scripture opens with those famous words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), and the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). God created all things, so he is the Author of all things. And, as the Author of all things, he has authority over them. The idea of God’s sovereignty presupposes God’s creation. Without God’s creation of all things, he would not be the Sovereign Ruler of all things.

But, when we speak of God’s sovereign rule over creation, to what extent does he rule? Just how much is he involved in this universe which he has created? In speaking to his disciples to comfort them, Jesus once said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows: (Matthew 10:29-31). God’s sovereign, watchful care extends even to the sparrows. He has even determined the number of hairs upon our very heads. Without getting overwhelmed with the minute details, God is all-knowing, and his rule extends to all things.

God’s sovereignty means that God does whatever he pleases. Actually, he is the only Person who has free will. In the Psalms we read, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3), and “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps” (Psalm 135:6). Paul writes, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” (Romans11:34). Of course, the answer is “No one.” God does not have to answer to anyone for his actions, because there is no one greater than he.

After his God-induced bout of madness, Nebuchadnezzar declared:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:34-35)

God does what he pleases, and he wants to do the best for his people. Therefore, Paul writes that, “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Proverbs 16:4 tells us that “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” Even the actions of the wicked are used by God to accomplish his plan for his people. When Joseph’s brothers came to him fearing his retribution for their evil deeds toward him, he said, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:19-20).

At times he may chastise his people, in order to draw them back to himself. Thus we read in Scripture, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). And, Amos asked, “Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” What appears to us as both good and bad come from the Lord, in order to make us what he would have us to be.

Lastly, many complain that the idea of the sovereignty of God removes man’s responsibility and free agency. If God works all things toward the accomplishment of his will, then man is merely a robot or a puppet in the hands of a much stronger God. This, however, is not the case. Scripture itself speaks many times of man’s responsibility for his own actions. God simply allows those actions to take place and then uses them as they occur. The strongest example of this is presented in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. In speaking of Jesus Christ, Peter said, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:22-23).

As Peter said, Jesus was delivered up to be crucified in God’s plan. God sent his Son into the world to die (John 3:16). But he was crucified by evil and lawless men. God did not make those men kill his Son. It was their own wicked action. Yet, God knew their hearts, and he knew that they hated his Son. Therefore, he used their wicked actions to kill his Son as the innocent sacrifice for the sins of his people. Thus, his plan was accomplished, and wicked men were responsible for their sin.

God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all‑sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long‑suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. (Question 7)

So, as we study those things which make God God, where do we begin? Some would say that we should begin with God’s infinity, because he is from everlasting to everlasting. Others would opt for his sovereignty as being the starting point, because he is the sovereign Ruler of the universe. Still others would call for an emphasis on his love, because “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

But one attribute of God which covers all the others is his holiness. In fact, Scripture describes God and his name as holy over 900 times. Actually, God can be said to be sovereign, just, merciful, gracious, loving, wrathful, etc. in his holiness. It is God’s holiness that defines him as God, and it is the first thing we think of when we consider his existence.

The Puritan writer, Thomas Watson, said of God’s holiness:

God is intrinsically holy. All he does is holy; he cannot act but like himself; he can no more do an unrighteous action than the sun can turn dark. He is the original and pattern of holiness. It began with him who is the Ancient of Days. God is perfectly, unalterably, and unchangeably holy.

In the Hebrew literature of the Old Testament, repetition was used to emphasize words and ideas. As we would capitalize a word or use bold print, the writers of the Old Testament repeated words and phrases. We often do something similar when we speak of good, better, and best. In Hebrew, repeating a word or phrase three times elevates it to the third degree, or the superlative. Interestingly, God’s holiness is the only attribute which is emphasized in this way in Scripture. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 declare that God is “Holy, Holy, Holy.” However, as important as they are, no other attributes are spoken of in this way. We never read that God is “Sovereign, Sovereign, Sovereign,” “Gracious, Gracious, Gracious,” or even “Love, Love, Love.” Only his holiness is thus highlighted and declared.

We start our study with a problem, though. What does it mean to be holy? Actually, the word, as used in Scripture, has two meanings; and both of them can be applied to God. The Hebrew word qadosh means “to cut or separate.” It has the impression of something cut apart from the rest and set aside or above. The second meaning of holy is “morally pure.”

Before the seventh plague of hail, God sent Moses to Pharaoh, telling him to let the Israelites go. God said, “For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth” (Exodus 9:14). That same thought is expressed in the Song of Moses after the army of Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea. In that song, a question is asked concerning God. “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11). Of course, the answer to the question is, “No one.” There is no other god like Jehovah. Speaking through the prophet, Isaiah, God said, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9). Among all the false gods which people throughout history have worshipped, none is like our God. He alone is the true God.

God created everything that is. He is the Author of all things, and as the Author he is above all things. He created man in his own image, to have communion with him, but he is above man in all his ways. Again, through the prophet Isaiah God says, “Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers” (Isaiah 40:21-22), and “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

This characteristic is referred to as God’s transcendence. It speaks of his separateness from man and all that he has created. God made the creation; but he is not the creation. There is a distinction between the Creator and the creature which we must never forget. This separateness above and beyond all creation is God’s holiness.

As mentioned earlier, holiness also speaks of God’s moral purity. Habakkuk refers to the fact that God has “purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13). God is the standard to which all his people must aspire. He is separate from us in his holiness. In the words of John Calvin:

Until God reveals himself to us, we do not think that we are men, or rather, we think that we are gods; but when we have seen God, we then begin to feel and know what we are. Hence springs true humility, which consists in this, that a man makes no claims for himself, and depends wholly on God.

God’s holiness also relates to us. Just as God is set apart, so are things set apart for his service. All the articles of furniture in the tabernacle in the wilderness were set apart for service to God. The area where the priests served was known as the Holy Place – that place set apart for God’s servants. And, deep within the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies (Qadosh Qadoshim), that place on earth where God dwelt among his people. People were also set apart for God’s service. The high priest wore a special turban with a gold plate which bore the inscription, “Holy to the Lord” (Exodus 28:36), for he was set apart from all other men, for God’s service.

And so, Peter writes, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). God has called us unto himself, and we are to be set apart for him. Thus, Paul often refers to the readers of his letters as saints. The Greek word hagios has the same meaning as qadosh – set apart. As believers, adopted by God and brought into his kingdom as children, we are to be separate from the world around us, and we are to live by the high moral standard set for us by our God and father. Thus, God’s holiness calls for and enables our holiness.